Cotton-picker.



0.0.HOUGHTON.

GOTTON PIOKER. APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 1, 1908.

1,006,094, I Patented 0012121911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

ZG ZI Z Watnesses: Inventor:

0. G. HOUGHTON.

COTTON PIGKER.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 1, 1908.

' 1,006,094, Patented Oct. 17, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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Witnesses: Z2

nventor:

COLUMBIA PLAND'GRAPH CO.,WAIHING1ON, D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ORLEY G. HOU'GHTON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR 'IO HENRY E. BULLOCKAND JAMES E. BULLOCK, BOTH OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

COTTON-PICKER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 1, 1908.

Patented Oct. 17, 1911.

Serial No. 446,462.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ORLEY C. HoUeHToN, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook, in the State ofIllinois, have invented cer-' tain new and useful Improvements inGotton-Pickers; and I do hereby declare that the following descriptionof my said invention, taken in connection with the accompanying sheetsof drawings, forms a full, clear, and exact specification, which willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

This invention has general reference to improvements in cottonharvesters and es pecially that class of cotton pickers in which aseries of intermittently-revolving fingers or spindles of peculiardesign are employed to remove the lint from the bolls by ,twisting thesame upon said spindles, and from whence the lint is removed by a seriesof strippers. In this class of pickers, an apron at the front of themachine serves to depress the cotton bushes so that they will be placedinto the most effective position to remove the cotton while saidspindles are revolving and passing through a grate above the bushes, asthe machine is moved over the field. In this construction there areseveral serious defects which render it necessary that the machine ispassed several times over the field because the bushes are notcontracted, concentrated or compressed sufliciently for the mosteffective operation of the picking spindles. Furthermore, when themachine is moved over the field and the cotton bushes entered into thespace below the grate which depresses the bushes, many of the brancheswill lie close to the ground, and in order to pick the lint therefrom itbecomes necessary to have the revolving picking fingers reach down upon,and even into the ground. When the soil is damp or wet these fingersbecome soiled, the delicate teeth thereon rapidly worn and, shouldgravel, stones, or other obstacles be met, they are frequently bent orbroken off, resulting in damage to the machine and delays in theharvesting.

To overcome these objections, which is the object of this invention, Iconstruct this machine as shown in the accompanying sheets of drawingswhich illustrate this invention fully and clearly, and in which Figure lis a sectional plan on line a z of Fig. 2, and Fig. 2 a sectionalfront-elevation of a portion of this improved machine in line 00 m ofFig. 3. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the same in line3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 1 is an end view of the forward part of the guard.Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional elevation showing a modifiedconstruction of the guard. Fig. 6 is a front-elevation similar to Fig.2.

Like parts are designated by corresponding symbols or characters ofreference in all the figures.

A, in these drawings designates the axle, and B the wheels of themachine.

C is the shaft upon which the parts constituting the picking mechanismrevolve, D being one of the columns, and E one of the series ofspindles.

F, is the grate, of usual construction located a suitable distance abovethe ground and through which the fingers E pass while revolving aroundtheir own axis and around the central shaft 0, the parts and elementsheretofore described being those to which my improvements are especiallyapplicable.

G, is a guard located below the grate F and in close proximity to theground over which the machine is moved. This guard is composed of twosimilar companion pieces (except that they are right and left) G Gproperly suspended from, and supported by, hangers H H as clearlyillustrated in the figures. The forward ends of these guardmembers areoutwardly flared or curved at g, and upwardly'curved at 9 while at theirrear ends there are a series of slots (1, corre- G G by means of screws.7), there being excisions in said guard-members for the reception ofthese inserts L.

By reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that the companion guard-membersG G are placed a certain distance apart so as to afford a passage P,between them, which passage may be widened or enlarged by removing theinserts L. In its passage over the field, the guard Gr moves in closeproximity to the ground so that the stalks of the cotton-plants aregathered by the forward, enlarged, end of the passage P while the usualapron, not shown, depresses the bushes, and then the stalks pass throughthe passage P while the bushes pass through the space confined by thesaid grate, the skirt and the guard. They are thereby compressed ortemporarily contracted in bulk into the comparatively narrow spaceformed by the members just mentioned so that the revolving fingers mayremove the cotton lint from their bolls. Thus, the guard G forms, as itwere, a bottom to a receptacle consisting of the said guard, skirt andgrate, thereby preventing any of the limbs or branches of the cottonbushes ever touching the ground and thereby also avoiding the necessityof the picking fingers being lowered beyond the lower surface of theguard. This guard, covering the ground or soil where the picking isbeing done at the time when the machine is moving over the same,prevents the picking fingers from coming in contact with any obstructionthat may exist in the field so that any injury to those rather delicatefingers is next to impossible.

In harvesting cotton some of the lint is liable to drop out of the bollsand fall upon the ground, especially so when the bushes are slightlyshaken as they naturally will be when the machine is passing over thesame. This cotton is difiicult to pick up by the picking fingers, amatter which is almost entirely avoided by the introduction of themoving guard heretofore described which, as stated, forms, as it were,the bottom of a receptacle upon which this loose cotton will fall andfrom which the fingers can readily remove the same.

I have mentioned the fact that the bars constituting the rear portion ofthe guard are tapering so that the spaces between the bars are wider atthe apex of the bars than at the bottom thereof. This wedge-shapedconstruction of the spaces prevents the fingers from pushing lintadhering thereto, through the slots at and passage P, since the taperingcontour of the slots has a compressing effect upon the lint adhering tosaid fingers.

In the cotton field the plants are sometimes irregularly grown, that isto say, not in a longitudinally straight line, and in or der to gatherthe stalks of such irregularlygrown plants, I have devised the removableinserts in the guard which, by widening the passage P provides for theplants a wider lateral space in their passage through this passage.

In Fig. 3 I have shown the guard G being horizontally disposed, and inmost cases this construction is sufiicient to cover the ground adjacentto the plants while the latter are being picked. In some cases, however,it is desirable that the rear-end of this guard G be located nearer tothe grate F than its front-end, in order that the space through whichthe bushes are passing be contracted to still further compress thebushes while the machine is passing over the same. In this case I preferto hinge the guard at its forward end either to the hanger H asillustrated in F ig. 3, or to the forward end of the skirt K, as shownin Fig. 5 and to provide for means S for elevating the rear end whichmay be actuated by the'person riding upon, and operating, the machine. Ihave also described this guard as being composed of two companionmembers, but I desire it distinctly understood that any otherconstruction may be adopted without departing from my invention whichbroadly consists in supplying a cotton harvester with a guard which islocated close to, and forms a temporary covering for, the groundadjacent to the cotton bushes or plants while the picking of.the lint istaking place.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire tosecure to me by Letters Patent of the United States 1. In a cottonharvester a guard consisting of parallel companion members, said membershaving excisions in their opposing edges, and inserts in said excisions.

2. In a cotton harvester, a guard adapted to cover the ground adjacenttothecotton plants while the latter are being picked, said guard beinglocated in close proximity to and adapted to move over the ground, saidguard consisting of two parallel companion members placed a suitabledistance apart and having their forward ends outwardly flared and fittedwith removable inserts.

3. In a cotton harvester, a guard, adapted to be moved in closeproximity to the ground and the plants therein while being picked, saidguard consisting of companion members, the forward ends of which areoutwardly flared, and being'placed a suitable distance apart, means forvarying the distance between said companion members, and gieans forraising the rear end of said memers.

4:. In a cotton harvester, a guard adapted in said guard a longitudinalslot for the pas- In testimony that I claim the foregoing 10 sage of thestalks of the cotton plants; skirts as my invention I have hereunto setmy on both sides of said guard forming between hand in the presence oftWo subscribing Witthem an enlarged chamber for the cotton nesses.

bushes, said guard being hinged at its for- Ward end, and means forelevating the rear end of said guard, whereby a chamber is Attest:

formed in the harvester which is more shal MICHAEL J. STARK, low at itsrear end than at its front end. H. G. DYER.

ORLEY O. HOUGHTON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

